Some time yesterday arvo, we received a message from my brother. My tua-ee, my mum’s eldest sister, has passed away. She is mum to my cousin Enoch Gan, but she has been like a mum to all the cousins.
I last saw her in April, when I went back on a quick trip for my mum’s birthday bash. I sat next to her on a couple of occasions – once in a coffee shop after church, where several other uncles and aunties and my brother and Jean got together, and later on at the birthday dinner in a restaurant. She’s a very gentle, quietly spoken, and beautiful person.
I remember celebrating her 80th, back when Tress and I went to see Sim in Nov 2019. I’m forever grateful for an aunt like her. She’s had a hard life earlier on. Her late husband was ill for a long time and passed away many years ago. Mental health can wreck such pains on loved ones and Enoch’s late dad, lovely person that he was that I remembered, suffered immensely from that ailment. It finally took his life, long after he left behind a trail of sad outcomes. My tua-ee, Enoch and the uncles, aunts and cousins were resilient however, and they pulled through. Enoch is now a successful surgeon in Singapore, with a flourishing family of his own. Tua-Ee had, in the last couple of decades at least, lived what appeared to be a happy and warm life. At least that’s how I’d remember her.
Ante 